PEDAL ORGAN

The Holtkamp Organ at Grace Lutheran Church of Mobile, was
designed by Walter Holtkamp, Jr. in consultation with Warren Hutton.
Designed for Grace's sanctuary, it features classic voicing, mechanical
key-action, and encasement of the 1784 pipes. The case-work not
only enhances the visual appearance, but also serves to focus
and project the sound. The case design was inspired by the architecture
of the church itself. Facing the instrument, you see the Great
Organ in the center and the Pedal Organ on the two sides. The
Swell Organ is located in a separate division behind the Great
front pipes. It is totally encolsed, but has vertical louvers
which can be manipulated by the organist to produce a broad dynamic
range.

The console is built in plane-sliced American Walnut with an
oil finish and is placed forward from the pipe case to provide
for the choir. The two manuals (keyboards) are encased in natural
walnut. Natural plum and rosewood replace the usual ivory and
ebony keys. Tilting tablets (stop Keys) of cherry above the manuals
activate the stops or couple the divisions, so that stops from
other divisions can be played from a single manual. A solid state
capture system with two memory banks supports the combination
pistons used to pre-set registrations of the sound of the organ.

At the floor of the console are the pedals and toe studs which
preset stops, and allow the organist to engage the "full
organ." The swell shoe which controls the louvers of the
Swell Organ is in the center of the area.

The keys are linked through fiberglass rods and aluminum roller
bars to the wind chests. This mechanical or "tracker"
linkage provides expression through variation in attainable accents.
For example, "chiff," the tonal exclamation that precedes
the fundamental pitch, can be accentuated by a quick touch or
attenuated by a slow touch. This "tracker" action produces
the sharacteristic sounds of the beautiful cathedral organs of
Europe.